Harris: True-blue Gator Enjoys Rivalry

November 26, 1985|By Tim Povtak of the Sentinel

I was at the first meeting of the two teams (in 1958), and I'll be there again for this one. In the beginning, the Gators had everything to lose. We already had major rivalries with Georgia, Auburn and Miami, but under the threat of a legislative act, we added FSU and most recently the NCAA.

It's best to be ''for'' your team and not ''against'' anyone else's team. I believe that the vast majority of Gator fans adhere to this principle even though it has been the common practice for Florida men to date FSU women.

This Tallahassee/Gainesville connection has resulted in many mixed marriages, separate bedrooms and confused children. After that first game in 1958 I decided as a junior at UF that I had better court only Gator gals. It worked. I have been married to Dottie, a true-blue Gator, for 25 years and have two wonderful Gator kids.

The best thing about this game and the rivalry is that it's all in fun. I remember my first real encounter with an FSU fan: Dottie and I had an FSU baby sitter for my son, Bruce. The sitter was required to pin Bruce's diapers with ''Go Gator'' pins, rock him in a University of Florida rocker, put him to bed in an Orange and Blue crib in an Orange and Blue room, only to find that the refrigerator was full of Gatorade. She never came back.

A few years later when I invited some of our Seminole friends to Dottie's 40th birthday party, they gave her a Garnet and Gold football jersey with the following inscription: Florida State 27, Florida 16, Dottie 40. We later returned the favor with an Orange and Blue T-shirt: FSU 6, Maas Brothers 0.

In 1965 an FSU ''friend'' half-stuffed a Gator doll into a sugar bowl and left it on my front porch with a note: ''The Gators don't fit in the Sugar Bowl.'' (Gators 18, Missouri 20, 1965 Sugar Bowl). Some years later, I responded by placing a sign in his front yard: ''Oklahoma 18, FSU 17 -- Welcome to Big Time Football (Orange Bowl 1980).

One of my best friends is a Seminole. The Honorable Bob Barber, mayor of Winter Garden. (I contributed money to his campaign so that his energy would be displaced by serving a town that is mostly Gators.)

We've enjoyed a unique relationship. Bob was benign during the nine years running that Florida defeated FSU (1967-1976). However, beginning in 1977, FSU won an unprecedented four in a row. That made the rivalry. During that time, Bob and his family victimized me and my family. The first year he wallpapered my entire office with the Orlando Sentinel sports pages detailing FSU's victory. I have always thought that those papers must have been stolen. How else could an FSU graduate afford that many copies of the Sentinel?

The second year brought signs to my front yard such as ''Gator Paraphernalia for Sale,'' ''One Orange and Blue Car for sale,'' and ''Family in Morning'' (sic). The reason for the spelling error is apparent. The third year brought a pickup load of overripe oranges dumped in my front yard. The fourth year, I walked into my office Monday morning to find a casket in requiem for the final demise of the Gators. Recent times have proven this announcement of the ''death'' of the Gator to be greatly exaggerated.

The Gator-Seminole thing carries over to businesses, too. For instance, many Florida Gator friends of mine are now Equal Opportunity Employers. We all have ''Token'' FSU graduates.

What do we have now? We have a legitimate rivalry. A Classic Clash, a Semi-Gator game that is fully qualified and ready to take its place with Georgia-Florida, Oklahoma-Texas and Michigan-Ohio State as one of the nation's best rivalries.